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Monday, January 30, 2012

Yesterday, we witnessed our first baptism in Kenya! After the worship service, the church walked down to the river where 10 of our Mariann students chose to be united with Jesus through baptism. We rejoice with them and would appreciate your prayers for our new brothers and sisters in Christ:

NaomiNellyMarionMercySammyElkanahNicanorMaxwellLabanBrian

Laura took some great photos that we will try to add soon! We love you all! Praise God for His goodness and faithfulness!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Well, we have been here for a while, but we have finally started teaching our classes! And boy, we have a full schedule! School here is very different from school in the states. First, the kids are MUCH MORE RESPECTFUL! They also truly value their education. Each family here is responsible for paying tuition for their child's education, even if it they are enrolled in public schools. Families are much larger here as well, which takes a toll on their families' income.

We are also cooking for ourselves now! We are still learning, but each of us has discovered a new passion! We have really enjoyed cooking here! We have to be a lot more creative... especially because the local store is 2 hours away! There is a small shop behind our house, but they don't sell much.

We are taking a trip to western Kenya this weekend with some of our fellow teachers to a small-game park! We are also going to one of our student's homes this Friday night. It is going to be an excellent weekend!

Please continue to pray for us! We can see God's finger-prints everyday, and we KNOW that we were sent here for a reason!

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Jambo rafiki! After a long journey across the world, we have finally arrived at Mariann! We were so thankful to have Sarah and Reed Fraser guide us through our first week in Kenya. We would have been lost without them!

When we first arrived at the school, we were very surprised to find that our house has running water, a toilet, a shower (WARM TOO!), and electricity! Praise the Lord! We are just thrilled about that! We have settled into our home quite nicely. We also have been enjoying our roommates, the popo (bats in Swahili).

On our first official day, one of the teachers from Mariann, took us to her home for tea. On the way, one of her neighbors came out to greet us. She brought her small children with her. We were apparently the first mzungus (white people) the children have ever seen. When the smallest child saw us, she fell down onto the ground and started screaming. The two little boys ran away. Welcome to Africa!

Sunday morning worship was quite enjoyable! We were able to have worship service with the children. We sang songs and had several prayers. One of the songs that was sung that morning was “Our God is a Handsome God” instead of “Our God is an Awesome God”. The children also had us sing for them. We sang “Blue Skies and Rainbows”. It was a wonderful morning!

We were finally able to have some bonding time with the girls who live here at Mariann. We decided to go to their dorm before bed to visit with them. We talked with them for a very long time. They were also fascinated by our hair, and really enjoyed playing with it.